As I sat watching yet another trailer for yet another sequel I began to ponder the current state of affairs in the world and find myself asking, have we hit a bit of an "ideas barrier" in the human race? "Now hang on", I hear some of you cry, before you rightly point out all the magnificent inventions and new technology that has come out over the last 3 or 4 years. "Surely this is the most vibrant time for ideas in history"?
But dig a little deeper below the surface and you might slowly come to see that human kind may be stagnating a bit when it comes to genuine ideas. I mean real ideas, things that will change the world and be talked about in the way that electricity, the microprocessor and aircraft are. Genuine game changers.
Take the entertainment industry as a, possibly slightly loaded, example. Most popular (and therefore successful) movies these days are sequels, adaptations of comic books/stories or remakes. Even a lot of the "new" ideas in TV drama and literature are actually rehashes of older ideas that have become fashionable again. And don't get me started on the endless diet of reality TV that is getting churned out for our "enjoyment". I'm finding it harder and harder to find a genuinely new and unique idea that captures my imagination.
Going back to the recent technology boom, closer examination shows us that real life is simply catching up with the ideas that science fiction writers were peddling years ago. The concepts are not new, though I will grant that some original thought is required to adapt current technologies to make them viable. Even the big "buzz" concepts like genetic engineering and alternative energy sources don't "feel" like new ideas.
Maybe the sense of wonder has dissipated now that I am a bit older but I don't find myself in awe of new ideas or totally engrossed in a new concept the way I used to be. I am concerned by how little of the innovation we are seeing in the world is actually genuinely new and ground-breaking.
Human kind is reaching a critical point in our stay on this planet. The world is becoming dangerously over-populated and under-resourced and it is this coming generation which will have to be fresh, inventive and ingenious if we are to flourish. Are they being taught these skills by watching endless movies that could be copies of each other, or playing on one of a bunch of electronic devices that all do essentially the same thing? How are the innovators of tomorrow being prepared for the challenges ahead?
I'm obviously generalising here and doing a great disservice to the people out there who are making a difference, though I think they are well in a minority. But I just worry that we are kidding ourselves that we are in an "age of invention" whereas in actually fact we are becoming very good at recycling old ideas and putting a fresh "twist" on things. I am struggling to tell you what was the last truly mind-blowing idea I saw was, but maybe that's just me.
We have some fantastic challenges ahead of us in the next 50 or so years, there is a part of me wondering whether we really know what is going to hit us, and what on earth we are going to be able to do about it when it does.
Today's #randomfactoftheday - King Edward VIII is the only British Sovereign to have resigned the throne (abdicated) voluntarily.
Today's #badjokeoftheday - Q: What's red and bad for your teeth? A: A brick
Today's #websiteoftheday - Some humourous photos as random stupidity (http://hadonejob.com/)
On this day: 1265, in Westminster the first English Parliament conducts its first meeting.
Till tomorrow
DT
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